Prawn fisheries of India

Prawns which are among the major marine fisheries have comprised 81,699 \t \ntonnes forming 10.5 % in the total marine fish production of India estimated at an \t \nannual average of 777,733 tonnes in the ten year period of 1959 – 1968. About 85% of \t \nthe prawn landings are from the west coast. Substantial quantities of prawns are also \t \nlanded from backwaters, estuaries and coastal lagoons. In the prawn and shrimp \t \nproduction of the world which was 690,000 tonnes in 1967, the marine prawn catch of \t \nIndia formed about 13%. Taking the annual average of prawn production in the past \t \none decade, among the major prawn producing countries, India has ranked next only \t \nto the United States of America.